Welcome to the Weekend Review with Angelica's Awesome Adventures, The Life of Rylie...and Bryce too! and The Florida Hogans! We would love for you to link up your reviews at the bottom and let everyone know about your favorite products! Reviews with giveaways are awesome too!
If you don't believe kids can learn from TV, stop reading here!
If you do, then read on.
For Angelica's birthday, her aunt Tarah bought her a WordWorld video. We hadn't watched it before, but I had seen books and toys at Target so I had a general idea of what it was. I also knew that a Department of Education funded study showed that WordWorld did increase early reading skills. Since Angelica is so gung-ho for Dora, Diego, Mickey Mouse, and other action-packed characters (which, believe it or not, she did learn from as well -- who do you think taught her to count to nine in Spanish?), I was really hoping that this slightly more educational viewing material would appeal to her.
And it did. Oh boy, did it. Her favorite character is Duck, and I cannot tell you how many times a day she wants to watch "Duck video!" or dances and hums the theme song and then yells, "I'M A DUCK VIDEO!"
The basic premise of the show is that the characters live in a world where everything is made up of the letters that spell them. The characters are animated words...for example, if you look at Duck's body, it spells Duck. Not only that, but a lot of times the characters, when building a word, will sound it out, so it demonstrates phonics at the same time. This is kind of the same premise you see in daycares and preschools, where the items in the classroom will be labeled (for example, a chair is labeled, "chair"). I read a study in college (I minored in psychology, part of it having to do with the psychology of childhood education) that showed this was an effective way of promoting literacy, but I cannot find it online.
Now, I don't want to call it "reading", but sometimes, when Angelica sees the words "Duck" or "Book", she knows what they are. Not every single time, but sometimes. Could be coincidence, but she sure does get excited when it happens. I particularly enjoy this, because I'm running out of things to challenge her mind...she's got counting, alphabet, colors, shapes, and sizes all perfected...so the only thing I can do is encourage (but not push) reading.
If you're open to letting your child watch television, I would recommend introducing them to WordWorld! Even if they don't directly "learn" from it, it's still a really cute cartoon.
Disclaimer: This opinion is my own. I am writing this review without the request of the company. They have not contacted me in any way, did not provide me with the product, nor did they compensate me for my time. The above Amazon link is an affiliate link.
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2 comments:
I could have told you that, in fact, I think I did. You were a total sponge at that age and the few shows on TV 30 years ago that offered educational content for preschool children helped jump start your reading and math skills.
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Deb
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